kids

I wake up before 6 am now. I am hyper-vigilant about her food. Her walks. How and where and when she goes to the bathroom. I feel as though I have a newborn again…only this time there is fur, tiny nails, and sharp baby teeth she likes to try out on my shins and ankles and toes and every other thing she can try them out on. But she is sweet. And pretty. And so very smart! She is almost 10 weeks old and she is obeying the sit command 95% of the time. She is staying mostly accident free at night. We are crate-training her and when she is tired or wants some space, she hangs out in her kennel. So it is her happy, safe space with was one of my goals for crate training.

But do you know who we got the puppy for originally? My two daughters, with my middle one specifically in mind since she was the one begging for this dog. But now she is not as involved, gets more frustrated, and generally wants to leave the care of said puppy to her little sister and me. And guess who is “Mommy” to the new puppy?

Me. Yep. My girls are doing to me what my sister and I did to my mother when we were teenagers. (I am SO sorry, Mom. I get it now. I really, really do.)We begged for a puppy, got one, and then he became my mother’s closest companion because she was the authoritative one. The firm one. The one who he listened to all of the time because she showed him the best and most consistency. Even as an adult dog, Harley (that was his name) would generally ignore everyone else for my mother’s commands.

So, this new puppy-while they may say she is theirs-does not actually belong to my daughters. She is my puppy. A puppy they help take care of during the day when I am at work and they are on summer vacation. That is pretty much it.

Delilah, the new puppy, is 9 weeks old on Wednesday. She is getting taller. You can see how her legs are growing into the long, awkwardly coltish legs of a large dog who has yet to be so large. On those legs are hunormous paws. She is going to be a big dog. Oh. Her breed is a pitbull/husky mix ( A “Pitsky”). Her paws are webbed, so I want to try her out swimming. And we went on a run this morning which she loved. So, daily morning runs shall be our thing now. She is a pretty brindle color and her fur is soft but not too thick. Her ears stick up all on their own an her eyes are blue on the left and brown on the right. She always has a doggy grin and I do love her kiss-nibbles (when she goes in for a smooch then nibbles with her front teeth while smooching). I love this dog. Wanna see her??

The 4th night she was home with us.

This is Delilah Rose. She is already spoiled rotten. I love this dog, y’all. LOVE. HER. Her little personality is so sweet and I can tell she really wants to please in general and she tries so hard to listen but she just gets so excited!

Sleeping by my bed.

She wants to sleep in her mama’s room. And she is so trusting that she shows her tum when she sleeps all the time.

While I am working at our satellite office, she snoozes the day away under my desk.

Obviously nap time the only time I can get a still photo of her as she is always moving. She loves to play. As evidenced by the action play shot below. Yes, that is a cat toy she is playing with and she loves it!

But her little face is the sweetest face and kissing her nose is one of my new favorite activities. I won’t ever get tired of it.

So, this is my new puppy. Even if my daughters call her theirs, I think we all know that she really belongs to me.

Like this:

I always find my anxiety ramping up a little right before school lets out for the summer. In years past, it was generally from trying to figure out affordable childcare for three small kiddos. Who was the best caregiver? Who was the best caregiver that was NOT going to charge me a gajillion dollars to keep my kids while I worked? What camps were there? Did I do day only? What about lunch? Snack?

SO. MANY. OPTIONS.

SO. MUCH. ANXIETY.

Now…the anxiety is there. But not for those reasons. All of mine are old enough to stay home without any supervision. My husband has a job where he has some days off during the week, so that is helpful. Now the only thing I have to worry about is making sure I have a good chore schedule set up for them so they can help keep the house clean during the day. The will mean my weekends aren’t spent cleaning up the disaster left by untidy teenagers. Now I have to figure out scheduling. Who wants to stay at whose house on what days and are they at their father’s house this week? Is my mother wanting her “Nana” time with the girls? How can I work in a few fun and affordable trips this summer? Do we want to try camping? A roadtrip?

A WHOLE new set of anxieties set in and my mind is swimming.

I think, this summer, other than making sure they have a chore list to complete, I am going to let them be bored. They can take walks. They can lay out in the backyard. They can read or have movie marathons or sleep in and stay up late (so long as they don’t wake me up!). They can color and write and figure out how to entertain themselves. I am not interested in staying anxious this summer. And I need them to learn to self soothe their boredom. Maybe we will take a trip/ Maybe we won’t. But I am not going to stress over it.

I hope everyone has a bit of repreive from the insanities of school being out. I hope everyone can find their happy medium with summer vacation planning!